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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26988280">Conductor's Verdict</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/KinesisWasTaken/pseuds/KinesisWasTaken'>KinesisWasTaken</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Conductor's Verdict</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, F/M, M/M, OC Story, Torture, Your Turn To Die Inspired lol, i honestly have no idea what to add in the tags</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 23:08:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,613</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26988280</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/KinesisWasTaken/pseuds/KinesisWasTaken</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>10 people have been kidnapped onto a train with 12 carriages and forced to participate in a voting game of murder.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. null.prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>6 years ago, I was spending the last moments of my high school years and preparing for my new life into college. It was quite a ride to pull through, especially my desire to study cosmetology. Being a hairdresser sounds a simple career. It's not what my father wanted, even when he went through a divorce with my mother and left me with her. He'd always mention what am I going to do when I grow up every midnight after my birthday and I would always answer: "I'll figure it out when I graduate".  I would always remanence those nights, knowing my dad will probably not be proud of my career choice. But he would be happy that I'm still alive and well. I miss him. My mom even told me that once I move out, she'll tell me my father's address so I can visit him anytime.</p><p>Ah...let's leave the personal backstory aside. Let's begin with the real content. Charlotte Verses, soon to be cosmetology major(can a cosmetologist be a major? I'm 25 now and I still fail at English)! I was 19 at the time, so it's been a year since I graduated high school. My fashion choice was quite unique. I wanted to be the cutest person on the block, my confidence was through the roof! I'm still as childish as I was before and I still saw the world in a positive light. A rosy-blushed beret with a white ribbon bow, a vest to seal my undershirt with such a frilly collar, a nice pair of shoes I found at Ross for a good price, and of course my purse: where all my important belongings go--such as my social security number and my money. I didn't bother picking up my hair this time. I planned the day before my move out that I was going to get a hair cut and now I look like Rapunzel's long lost sister---without the trauma.</p><p>Bad joke.</p><p>As I step down the stairs, my last couple of steps were light and frail, awaiting for a response. The first second was my first step, second, and the third came with a great pop of confetti spurring from my dominant side. From the right was my brother Jerome, currently 12 years old and giving a plastered grin on his face when I was holding the handle of my luggage, the wheels tripping the stairs a bit. "Lottie's moving out! Today is the day~!" he'd chant at least four times. I rolled my eyes, as I see my mother in our small kitchen wrapping a crust-cut sandwich together with paper towel neatly and packed it into a plastic box with almost the same shape. "Mornin', Charlotte!" She chimed as she finished packaging, "Well are you all set for a new adventure. I see you're wearing the beret I gave to you last month." and walked over to me with a hand over my cheek in appreciation. She scoffs with a smile and lets go to cross her arms. "Oh goodness. My daughter's all grown up. I don't know who to find to take care of Jerome anymore. I actually have to pay for childsitting.." my mother muttered under her mouth and shut herself in silence. She glares at Jerome. "Jerome, why not start helping Charlotte pack her things to her car? I believe you would prefer to do that then clean up all this confetti, yes?"</p><p>"Only time you're correct!" Jerome snickers, immediately grabbing one of my bags and rushing out the door. She then looks back at me with an eyebrow raised. It was more of a comment than something she'd command. "Ugh. Can you believe your brother? You must feel very excited to head to college."</p><p>"Yea." I simply responded, grabbing my sandwich and packed it to my purse. I wanted to eat it now, but I really wanted to arrive to orientation early just to meet up with friends. From a spark of realization, I turned to my Mom. "Mom," I said, "You said I'd get dad's address, right? So I can pay him a visit anytime--right?"</p><p>My mom stopped before she picked up the cheese on top of the cutboard. She turned around with a look of regret. "Ah, about that." Mom sighed in disbelief.</p><p>"I'm sorry, Lottie. I had your father's address before, but apparently your father told me that he was moving to another state and getting a new phone.  He then forgotten to give me the new address and number before I could ask for it last week."</p><p>I was disappointed that day. The one chance I could have to meet my father again after a decade was an opportunity missed. My smile faded away. "Oh." I said, my mother approaching me with a comforting hug. "Don't worry, Lottie. If he manages to call me back and give it, I'll let you know. For now, you need to start going. Isn't your orientation beginning in 20 minutes?"</p><p>I gasped. "It's a 15 minute drive! I have to get going!" I went to grab my last luggage and sped walked to the parking lot to toss it to the back, close the trunk, and shooed my brother off the driver's seat. Before I went in, my mother ran out with something small in her hand. "Wait! Charlotte!" She exclaimed. "Huh?" I replied. My mother went straight to where I was and gave my a bunny shaped locket-pin. "You almost forgotten your locket. It would be a shame to not bring it. Luck was always stored in this gem, as you say."</p><p>"Oh-thanks Mom." I said, pinning the locket under the bow of my beret. I slid to the car seat, closed the door, looked out the window, and waved to my mom. "Bye Mom! Bye Jerome!" I called out, honking the car horn in salute as I turned my head back to the front of the car to finish getting out of the lot and drove out to the gates.</p><p>And that was it. I finally said goodbye to the family I've been with for awhile. I was on my own, just like every bird leaving the nest. I feel grateful. Not everyone gets out of the house immediately at age 19. I wish more people are given this opportunity. </p><p>But...you didn't want to hear me talk about my college stories, correct? No.</p><p>This is the story..</p><p>of how I encountered..</p><p>The Blood Train.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. I. THE ICEBREAKER</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The day was sharp, sunny, and clear. A 15 minute drive to my college just so I can meet with my friends and attend orientation. I was minding my own business, driving responsibly, went down from a highway, and was in the middle of traffic. Around me was a simple town in Tennessee: at least one homeless person around, children playing around the gas station, a person vending out mangos, and the light of dawn is rising slowly. It was annoying my vision. As I turned right, there was a sign leading to a detour, but no cars were turning to it. I got confused and blinked once. Cars were moving on that direction. I shrugged it off and followed. I drive straight, blinked again. The road ahead of me had trees surrounding it. I then began to grow scared. I blinked again. I was going in the right direction. The trip was going smoothly, after I blinked nothing happened. Fast forward to a couple minutes regularly, I blink. A train was incoming in front of me at full speeds. I tried to brake as I was far away from it, but didn't work. I kept driving. I let go of the pedal, I tried getting the kill switch: I kept going. I looked around in fear, the world in front of me was collapsing, I reach out for the door beside me to open it and---</p><p>
  <strong> ..I was out.</strong>
</p><p>I didn't know what happened, I thought I was driving safely. But instead..my car collided onto a train. That was the moment I thought it was over. My life was shattered. It's over..and the most embarrassing part is that it's a car accident. Would my ghost be angry from this? But...my ghost never appeared. Everything was still black. "Is this death?" I thought. No. I was just unconscious. I can feel myself breathing, smelling the damp air...it was probably my own blood. I kept telling myself to wake up but it just couldn't work. Until I heard a faint voice.</p><p>
  <em>"So that's where we came from! That could've been our escape! Why did you all hesitate?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"We didn't know where it leads."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"You never seen a portal? So much for being a demigod."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Callate. La mujer estan despertando."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"You heard the bartender! Shut up!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Everyone calm down. We don't know if she's one of us or not."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Move over. I'm confident she's one of us. Look at her. No way she could be behind all this."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"No way you creep! I'll go talk to her."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"There is no way I'm letting you approach anyone else! You're weird!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I..didn't do anything."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"She's waking up."</em>
</p><p>I'd slowly open up my eyes.</p><p>"Huh?" I wondered to myself. I felt the strange shaking and vibration below my body, an uncomfortable metal floor was keeping me cold.</p><p> </p><p><em>"People?"</em>  I thought.</p><p> </p><p>"W-Where..-"</p><p>"She's awake."</p><p>"Give her space. I believe she needs to breathe."</p><p>In front of me were 9 people, 2 of them helping me get up. From my own vision, I could list all of them from the top of my head without even knowing their names. The left of me was a man in suspenders and to the right: a redhead with goggles. To the back of them was a whole group. My eyes wandered around to analyze my surroundings. A masked man, a silver-haired boy, a tall coat man, a woman with sunglasses, a posh-looking woman, a pink-haired man in a robe, and another one with boxers and headphones. All of them were looking at me peeking. </p><p>My eyes sprung open and crawled back. "W-What the? Who are you people?" I stammered, opening my purse to lean to get my phone. "W-Who's behind this?!"</p><p>The silver-haired boy approached. "Don't bother calling the cops. We tried. No signal here." He comments. The tall man then went in front of the boy and lent out a hand. "Relax. We're asking the same questions as you are. Just calm down." He said gently. </p><p>I accepted his hand to get up. I actually needed it. My body felt numb, as if I just gotten up from a surgery. I'm fully clothed, though. No wounds, no blood. I was fine. Just...confused and scared. The vibration from the ground continued to my feet. The room gave a huge bump. "W-Woah!" I stumbled, the man kept hold of my hand. He lets go and steps back to shove his hands in his coat pockets. </p><p>"So that's ten of us, right?" The sunglasses woman asked. </p><p>The pink-haired man in the robe nods. "Right. That seems like a reasonable amount. There's no way this room can fit more than ten people."</p><p>"So..how do we get out of here?" She replies.</p><p>"GUYS! I found a way to open the windows! Get over here! And uhm..I don't think this is a green screen projection.." The boy in boxers called out. </p><p>The rest of the group headed over to the windows, I stood behind in hesitation. <em>"I don't know any of these people..but they're in the same situation as me. I guess I should follow as well."</em></p><p>What I saw on front of the window was a crimson void, an aura of red winds, an endless black ocean below the rails of the never-ending wheels of the room we're in. Across the window was a sea of carriages, rushing against the rails of hell. The moon was just as morbid as the atmosphere. The only relief we had was that we could breathe. It was the embodiment of Hades' underworld, only plagued of the blood of it's spirits and ghosts. We were all terrified of where we are. We didn't say anything. Only for someone to break the silence. "U-Uhm..this isn't Arizona.."</p><p>
  <b>"GREETINGS PASSENGERS."</b>
</p><p>We all turned around, greeted with a monitor lowering down from the ceiling. The monitor spurred in static &amp; snow on it's screen, until a picture of a kitsune was shown on it. Everyone clamored upon this appearance, only for the sunglasses woman to yell out.</p><p>"Hey! Who the hell are you?! Speak up!"</p><p>
  <b>"THIS IS A PRE-RECORDED MESSAGE UPON MY OWN PREPARATION. PLEASE LISTEN IF YOU WISH TO LIVE."</b>
</p><p>"Preparation?" I asked with an eyebrow raised, ignoring the pre-recorded notice at the beginning of the sentence.</p><p>
  <b>"I AM THE CONDUCTOR OF THE BLOOD TRAIN: NOSK. I WILL BE YOUR OBSERVER AND SUPERVISOR UPON THE FOLLOWING CHALLENGES YOU WILL FACE IN THIS TRAIN."</b>
</p><p>"The conductor! Great, show us the way out!"</p><p>"Wait--challenges? The Blood Train? Wh..what's going on?" I asked to everyone, hoping for a response to see if I was having a nightmare or not.</p><p>
  <b>"THERE ARE 12 CARRIAGES IN THIS TRAIN, EACH OF THEM CONTAINING A UNIQUE CHALLENGE. YOU MUST USE COOPERATION AND TEAMWORK TO SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE THEM IN UNDER AN HOUR. COMPLETE THEM AND YOU WILL PROCEED TO THE NEXT CAR WITHOUT CASUALITIES."</b>
</p><p>"Uhm...by what do they mean by c-casualities?" The headphone boy asked. </p><p>"I..don't know."</p><p>
  <b>"IF YOU FAIL TO COMPLETE THEM IN UNDER AN HOUR, GIVE UP, OR THE ENTIRE PARTY DOESN'T ARRIVE AT THE FRONT OF THE DOOR.."</b>
</p><p>A red platform was blinking in front of the only door of this carriage, then blinking to green briefly. As the cart rumbles, the entire room began to shift. "Ah!" I yelped the bump of the car tripped me over to the floor. The entire room expanded into a huge area of snow and cold, the metal floor was swapped with ice. My bottom felt cold and freezing, terrified of what was happening at the moment. I looked back at the monitor. The screen glitched as a terrifying shriek of sound finished sounding off when the room finished shifting. At the far right of the entire world was a cabin. It looked cozy, but inside was maybe 5 or more podiums inside. spiraled in a circle.</p><p>
  <b>"YOU WILL NEED TO DECIDE TO SACRIFICE A PERSON IN YOUR PARTY TO THROW OUTSIDE THE TRAIN. THEY WILL BE CHAINED AGAINST THE CAR, PROCEEDING TO SLOWLY DIE WITH NO FOOD, WATER, OR EVEN OXYGEN. YOUR GOAL IS TO MAKE IT TO THE END WITH AT LEAST 3 PEOPLE IN YOUR PARTY. IF YOU DO, EVERYONE WILL BE RESURRECTED TO FINALLY GO BACK TO THEIR HOMES AND ESCAPE THE TRAIN. ADDITIONAL RULES WILL BE ADDED IF NECESSARY."</b>
</p><p>"W-Wait, this is too much to process! What do we do in this voting process?!"</p><p>
  <b>"I WILL MAKE YOUR FIRST CHALLENGE EASY. WELCOME TO THE ICEBREAKER CAR. INTRODUCE YOURSELVES IN AN ORDERLY MANNER. ONCE YOU HAVE ALL GOTTEN TO KNOW EACH OTHER, YOU WILL PROCEED TO THE NEXT CAR."</b>
</p><p>
  <b>"BUT DO NOT TAKE TOO MUCH TIME."</b>
</p><p>Next to Nosk's monitor, an hourglass appeared and it started to go off. We all looked to each other in panic as the ice below us began to crack.</p><p>
  <b> "TICTOK. THE TRAIN IS MOVING."</b>
</p><p>With a loud horn of steam being heard from afar, the train began to move...and so did the ice below us. The ice separated us in our own pieces of ice, slowly floating away from each other. We all tried to hold onto the ice, a lot of people struggling to keep hold of balance on the ice and trying not to fall down. I was even holding grip of the ice I was sitting on, looking down at the water. The water was full of fish and other animals that live in cold water. I would prefer not to get frostbite, thank you very much.</p><p>"Ah...I'm freezing!" I complained, the lack of sleeves I have to my outfit and the fact I was wearing a skirt was making me very uncomfortable. "So are we, princess!" The silver-haired boy called out loud, completely petrified of the water. "Everyone calm down! I think my cube stopped moving when I keep my feet upright. If you're sitting down, stay sitting down!" The coated man yelled. "Oh how did YOU know about that so easily?!"</p><p>"Patience and balance, Sora. You might want to listen to strangers or else your fate will come to haunt you." The masked man replied. He was balancing on the cube quite well, sort of doing a yoga stance I think? 'Sora' seemed to have glared back at him. The entire party was silent, trying not to trip or slip on their own cubes. Then the masked man spoke out. "Well...are you all going to introduce yourselves before we all get frostbite from this paranormal car?"</p><p>It was completely awkward in a room full of strangers. Everyone seemed older than I was and I never knew how to talk to other adults easily. Sure, I communicate well with my friends...but the only reason was that I had something in common with them. On my mind I thought: <em>"Okay...the only thing I have in common in this strangers is that I'm in the same situation as them. I'm sure telling my name and stuff shouldn't be hard.."</em></p><p>"C-Charlotte."</p><p>"Hm?"</p><p>"Charlotte Verses. I-I'm..."</p><p>Before I continued my message, an ice cube floated towards my cub. I try to balance myself to stand up and slowly step onto it to continue my sentence. "19 y-years old...I j-just started college recently..and--woah!" I waved my arms trying not to fall upon landing on it. "I have NO idea what going on o-okay?! But...I would very much like to get out of this situation as soon as possible. So...w-who are you all?" I nervously grabbed the sides of my shoulders, freezing.</p><p>Everyone awkwardly looked at each other, waiting for another response. They all looked at the coat man. He sighed. "Emile Roux. I'm a musician and a street performer from Chicago. I'm 30 years old. And..trust me. I'm not as old as you think." He assured with a nervous smile over to the redhead, hopping over to another cube to approach her.</p><p>The redhead rolled her eyes. "So much for explaining yourself, Emile. Fine. I'm Melody Ramos. I'm a pilot in training from Arizona. But..I don't do military stuff at the moment. I'm just doing joyrides." She explained, stepping up as well. </p><p>"...You're going to introduce yourself as well, Sora?" The masked man gave a tilt of his head, indicating a smirk under their mask.</p><p>'Sora' groaned. "I'm Arakawa Sora. Yea, I'm Japanese and so is that freak over there." He groaned pointing over at the masked man. "Nothing special about me, I just work at a local Publix...eeeugh..." He shivered, trying to step over to the next platform. Sora looked over at the rest in impatience. Though, he looked specifically on the only person he knew. "Come on! I introduced myself! Why don't you do it?"</p><p>"I prefer to save myself for last~...after all, people won't find me interesting if I introduced myself right away." He responds to Sora. Sora groaned. "Okay, fine. Do what you want. Anyone else?!"</p><p>The posh-looking girl with a formal attire raised her hand. "Sinead Moreno. Shi-nead. Please pronounce it properly. I'm a law student at the moment." She responds, gracefully getting up from her sitting position and balancing herself to get to the other platform. "I don't need to explain much about myself do I?"</p><p>"No you don't. It's fine! I think that's enough for these to move!" I responded with a smile, looking down at the ice. It seems to be slowly connecting together. "Who's next?"</p><p>"Oh...ehm..I really want to get out of this ice..these slippers aren't going to go well." Someone muttered. "Ah. My bad." They said. "I'm Seo Youngsoo. I don't feel comfortable in sharing what I do, but I will say is that I need a proper attire..."</p><p>"Why are you in pjs?" I asked.</p><p>"Before I was kidnapped, I was sleeping. I didn't know who kidnapped me, but I recall it was a bunch of people." Seo responded, crawling over to the next ice block since he cant stand properly with his slippers on ice. "Wait you were kidnapped as well? I thought I was the only one!" The pink haired boy interrupts, his ice cube floating over to Seo's.</p><p>"Uh..yea. I mean I can tell you had the same fate as I do due to your ehm..attire."</p><p>"Oh, this? Yea, these are my pjs too! It's also my merch. Highest quality in the bin." He chimed, distracted on his over advertising. "Fuck--uh..are we supposed to introduce ourselves with our first and last names? Honestly I don't feel comfortable saying my actual name due to habits soooo....you can call me Dionysus! Dio for short."</p><p>I raised an eyebrow in curiosity. I might've seen this name somewhere. "Dionysus?"</p><p>"I'm a Twitch streamer. I usually do 'Just Chatting' or other MMOs. League, Minecraft, Final Fantasy, etc.."</p><p>"Oh, that Dionysus! I recognized your merch somewhere! You're very famous for raiding small streamers!" I complimented.</p><p>"Y-Yea! I'm surprised nobody here ah...knows me. Though, I think that's fine for me as well. Nobody needs to know about me that much,hah." Dio shrugged it off with a nervous laugh. "Perhaps I'm not the only semi-famous person here?" He looked over to the woman with sunglasses. She wasn't confident in sharing her information, but she was slipping a bit on her block. "Oh, me?" She pointed at herself in confusion, the shrugged it off. "Well...alright. I'm Elodie Cook. Ella for short. I do professional voice-acting." She responds, then stepping up to another block. "For cartoons, kickstarter projects, comics, english dubs for anime~, all that jazz." She chuckled. </p><p>"Have you voice acted for BNA, once? I think I've seen you in the credits once while I was watching that." Seo asked.</p><p>"Oh..uh..yeah! I remember voice acting for BNA. Great anime. A bit of a shame they couldn't afford to pay the other actor." She snorted. "I'm open for commissions if you need it. Though..not when we're in a death-defying iceberg." Ella didn't ignore the situation she was in.</p><p>"Right, right. Is there anyone left?"</p><p><em>"Yo." </em>The bartender waved his hand. "Hola. Ah..I'm practicing my English a bit..please forgive me." He chuckled.</p><p>"You're fine. Go off. We're..kind of in a hurry here." I looked over at the hourglass. We only have 15 minutes left. It took that long to introduce ourselves? </p><p>"My name is Anthony Narvaez. I run an Argentinian bar in New Orleans." Anthony explains. "I'm 28 years old, if you're wondering." </p><p>"Oh wow! You look quite young. I..didn't realize that." I apologized. Apparently he was quite attractive but uhm...nevermind. </p><p>"No worries." He let a hand out in forgiveness, the ice moving over for him to step on.</p><p>Everyone else looked over at the masked man. Sora was possibly more frustrated than all of us combined. The man just giggled. "Alright. It's my turn I suppose. I am the great psychic Oshiro Aoi. You all can trust in my ability." He bowed gracefully, stepping over to the ice to finally finish up the iceberg to be joined up. "About time. You made your introduction quick." Sora commented with his arms crossed.</p><p>"G-Great! Nice to meet you Oshiro." I smiled politely. "Uhm...do you two know each other?" I looked over to Sora. "Yea. He's the fortune teller around my local block that keeps telling lies and scaring the crap out of me. I don't think trust is a valuable asset between us."</p><p>"Sora, I'm only telling that the cards told me. You really can't accept that?"</p><p>"Absolutely not!"</p><p>Oshiro didn't bother to respond back. He didn't respond to him..and he looked unsurprised from his reactions. Sometimes...maybe it's not best to take him seriously.</p><p>I waited for the rest of the iceberg to finish up. We were all finally in one place, without death-defying water below us. It's just pure cold at this point. </p><p>Sora laughed in relief as he saw the platform on front of the door turn green. "Now let's get out of here and stop that damn timer!" </p><p>We all scurried off to stand on the platform. As soon as all 10 people stepped on it, the timer stopped. The door made a click sound and opened it for us, a bridge leading to the next car. The monitor from before lowered, a sound of slow clapping coming from it. </p><p>
  <b>"Congratulations! That was your first challenge! I'm impressed at how you guys are so good at social interacting!"</b>
</p><p>"I can definitely tell that isn't a pre-recorded message.." Seo turned to the monitor, as well as everyone else. We were all glaring at it..but we were surprised...turned out it wasn't a robot.</p><p>It was a person..masked with a kitsune mask, sitting on the conductor's seat: a velvet and comfortable chair to be one..honestly.</p><p><b>"Ohh...what's with the look~? You thought my pre-recorded message was supposed to be me? Well..it is me..just if I had a sword stabbing my throat!"</b> The stranger cackled in madness. </p><p>I gained a bit of goosebumps from their statement. Then clenched my fist in frustration. "You! You're NOSK, right?! Any reason why you want this specific group of people to participate in this hell?" I yelled.</p><p>
  <b>"Isn't it obvious? I want you all to work together! Is it not simple to work together in a team? Co-op-per-ation? Oh well...you'll figure it out on your own. I provided these sick manuals beside that door right there if you forgot the rules. I'll be trying my best to make your lives a living nightmare sooo...you best be prepared for anything the cars provide you!"</b>
</p><p>"No! I want to go home! Home as in...maybe back at my house! At my college! Where my friends are! Why me?! Why does everyone in this group have to participate in this so-called game of yours!"</p><p>
  <b>"..."</b>
</p><p>
  <b>"Toodles."</b>
</p><p>"WAIT!"</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <b>SLAM!</b>
  </span>
</p><p>As the monitor immediately swung up, I sulk down to the floor to cry. Apparently this wasn't just a nightmare. It felt real as ever. It didn't feel it was fake at all. All this cold..the car crash..it felt real. And--</p><p>I don't feel like I will escape this anytime soon.</p><p>"Hey."</p><p>I looked up. Emile was looking down at me. "Thanks for encouraging everyone to do the challenge. I'm..ah.." He rubbed the back of his neck, unsure what to say. "I'm not sure how we're gonna get out easily...but---it's best to go along with what's offered to us,alright? Look at where we are. We're still alive, right? I'm sure we'll get out back to your home."</p><p>I tried to rub some of my tears away. He held his hand to me once more. "..Come on. Crying won't get you anywhere, y'know?" He smiled genuinely. I was hesitant until I looked at the people around me. Everyone was just as sad as me. It feels like I've lost all hope..and I'm still unsure if I can work together with these strangers. But..Emile..he seems confident. And...you know what?</p><p>
  <span class="u">I think I'll trust him. </span>
</p>
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